Wichita ? Animals displaced from a flooded North Dakota zoo have settled into a wildlife park in Wichita for what could become a lengthy stay, park officials said.

The Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Wichita is sheltering nine animals from the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, N.D., where officials feared the Souris River, which flows through the city, would come over a dike.

Heavy rain upstream and water releases from Canadian reservoirs have flooded the Souris, and thousands of people in Minot were evacuated from their homes this week when the water went over levees there.

When the animals arrived during the first week of June, Fouts said zoo officials hoped they would be in Wichita for four to six weeks.

“As it stands now, they’re pretty much thinking that their season is gone,” Fouts said. “You know it’s going to be well into the fall before they’re cleaned up.”

When North Dakota zoo officials called Fouts, they thought they had 12 to 18 hours before the river flooded.

“They needed to find someone who could get there and especially move the giraffes because that’s a difficult thing to do,” Fouts said.

The park transported three giraffes in a special trailer that rises to 17 feet as the giraffes enter but lowers for the trip so it trailer can pass under bridges, with the giraffes leaning slightly over, he said.

Tanganyika is also housing two lions, a Siberian tiger, a Bengal tiger and two Amur leopards. The North Dakota zoo sent the big cats to Kansas in boxes loaded on a trailer. Other animals went to zoos in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota and some are being kept in a warehouse in Minot, Fouts said.

Tanganyika had the space to house the nine animals because it had emptied an area for renovation.

“It worked perfectly,” Fouts said. “It’s not like everybody’s got a spot to stick a giraffe.”

The park decided to keep the animals separate from its animals for space and health reasons. Because the North Dakota animals are living separately, when they return home they should more easily meet testing requirements, Fouts said.

The park plans to put the giraffes in a yard where they can be seen from a distance. The rest of the animals won’t be on display, but Tanganyika will start offering special tours on Wednesdays, when the park stays open later.

Tanganyika is paying the animals’ expenses, but Fouts said the park will probably receive some reimbursement.

He said the animals are adjusting well.

“They’re doing great,” he said. “They really are.”